Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma recently raised concerns with UK Secretary of State for Justice Kenneth Clarke about the way in which Indians who apply for UK visas are treated during the visit to India. The refusal rate for Indians applying for UK visit visas is quite high.

There are also concerns about the cap on Tier 2 visas for the UK. There are only about twenty thousand tier 2 visas available each year. This has made it difficult for Indian nationals to work in the UK. On top of this the Tier 1 highly skilled migrant route in effect no longer exists.

The Indian community in the UK is about one and half million strong. There are also hundreds of Indian companies that have invested in the UK. It has been commented that the current immigration rules is bad for the economy. Indians are put off investing in the UK because of the difficulty in bringing in skilled labour from India.

Many people would say that current UK immigration policy is in the long term bad for the UK economy.